Candidates for third parties, including the Green and Constitution parties, are circulating petitions to get slates on the Nov. 4 ballot.

At a Statehouse news conference Thursday, Rich Whitney of Carbondale, chairman of the Green Party and its candidate for governor in 2006 and 2010, said he is “happy to pass the torch” to others, including Scott Summers, a lawyer from the northern Illinois city of Harvard who is running for governor this year.

Third-party slates for top state offices this year will need 25,000 valid signatures to be filed June 16 to June 23 with the State Board of Elections.

Whitney said that instead of a donkey and elephant, he thinks Democrats and Republicans would better be depicted by “two ostriches paid by corporate America to bury their heads in the sand and ignore … commonsense policy solutions.”

The Illinois Green Party platform includes a graduated income tax so high earners pay more than people struggling, a tax on financial transactions at places including the Chicago Board of Trade, and creation of an Illinois public bank. Such a bank, Summers said, would allow the state to “reinvest our dollars here in Illinois and not export them to Wall Street.”

Summers, 64, said he thinks a financial-transactions tax could raise billions of dollars. A Green Party flier states says one possible way to impose that tax would cost just $1 on a $10,000 transaction.

Summers also said he’d like to create home-grown jobs through a “microcapitalism” plan that would include revolving funds for small loans or grants to help people start businesses. He would also want volunteer accountants, attorneys and others to mentor new entrepreneurs.

The current state tax system, Summers said, is too regressive — taking a larger percentage of income from low-wage people.

Other candidates for the Green Party include Bob Pritchett of Roseville for lieutenant governor, Julie Samuels of Oak Park for treasurer, Tim Curtin of Berwyn for comptroller, Sheldon Schafer of Peoria for secretary of state, David Black of Rockford for attorney general and Omar Lopez of Chicago for U.S. Senate.

Mike Oberline, 65, of Virden is Constitution Party candidate for governor. He is a decorated U.S. Marine veteran of the Vietnam War who has worked in law enforcement, including being a firearms instructor, and was a patrolman with Compton, Calif., police.

“We need to stop taxing the people to death and start doing what’s right for them instead of just what’s right for the legislators,” Oberline said.

Oberline filed petitions to run for state Senate in 2012, but an objection led to his removal from the ballot.

Others seeking to be Constitution Party candidates on the Nov. 4 ballot are Don Stone of Gays for lieutenant governor, Joe Bell of Auburn for attorney general, Ted Stufflebeam of Greenville for secretary of state, Timothy Goodcase of Lombard for comptroller, Tim Pearcy of Belknap for treasurer and Chad Koppie of Gilberts for U.S. Senate.

Page 2 of 2 - Whitney got nearly 10.4 percent of votes for governor in 2006, and because that was above a 5 percent threshold, the Green Party became an established party in Illinois for the next election, lowering petition requirements.

However, Whitney got just 2.7 percent in 2010, and the Green Party now has higher signature requirements for statewide offices.

Democratic and Republican candidates for governor who filed for the March primary needed 5,000 valid signatures.